


Hymmne oz Gatyunla: Songs of the Underground

by Clyncye Rudje (Tiamat)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Chara Being Chara, Flowey Is A Dick, Frisk Needs A Hug, Gen, Narrator Chara, Nonbinary Frisk, POV Third Person Limited, Past Child Abuse (mentioned), Selectively Mute Frisk, Soft Chara, graphic descriptions of buttercup poisoning, hymmnetale au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-11 03:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5611384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiamat/pseuds/Clyncye%20Rudje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where songs are power, creatures created from song and given life—called "monsters"—were driven underground by the fears of their own creators. Now, long after those fears have died and all that remains is the legend of the singing mountain none return from, a mage child is saved from dying from their fall to the Underground by a snarky ghost and goatmom, and embarks on a quest to return home. </p>
<p>But having said constantly-angry undead teen following them around and commenting on their every action might make that a bit difficult.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lautyca

**Author's Note:**

> Frisk is nonbinary in this fic; they only refer to themself as she at first because they're just introduced to the concept of being nonbinary after they fall. They will have fully transitioned to using they/them by the end of the first chapter. Frisk is roughly twelve and Chara is roughly sixteen for this fic. 
> 
> This is my first fic in over ten years so, uh. plz be gentle when crit.
> 
> AU notes:  
> \- Humans in the Meta Ebott region only teach DFAB individuals magic, but anyone can use it if taught.  
> \- Magic is cast via song.  
> \- Monsters can talk and sing at the same time since they're made of magic. Monsters do not need to be taught to use magic so much as to control it.  
> \- Monsters were originally constructs in this AU; they are capable of reproducing on their own, but the process of creating a new monster is pretty similar to the one used to create the originals.  
> \- Frisk and Chara are both DFAB and can use magic. They are both neurodivergent.  
> \- If you still want more [Hymmnetale](http://hymmnetale.tumblr.com), click the link in this bulletpoint.

Frisk did not think that she would feel regret about going up Meta Ebott, but teetering on the edge of a hole she couldn't see the bottom of and trying to convince herself that disappearing would be best was getting pretty close to it. She shuffled a bit closer, grit her teeth, and continued talking herself into walking into the pit. 

It didn't really help. Thankfully(?) the choice was taken from her by the ground crumbling under her right foot when she shifted, causing her to lose her balance and pitch face-first into the hole. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut and hoped it ended soon — and blacked out as her head struck a rock on the side of the pit.

 

* * *

 

Frisk woke in a patch of golden flowers. She hurt, badly, but she was nowhere near as injured as she should have been from such a massive fall. The fact that she was able to think that at all should have been impossible—she _remembered_ hitting her head, but even using both hands to search she couldn't find so much as a bump. She staggered to her feet and looked herself over. Nothing—even her clothes were only mildly scuffed and dirty at the worst. "How...?"

***You can thank me later.**

Frisk yelped and spun around in an attempt to find the owner of the voice, and saw nothing. Were they hiding from her? Maybe she needed to talk to them? She wasn't sure she even could, but if they couldn't see her she didn't have much choice. She took several deep breaths before attempting to say anything; she'd never been able to speak around unfamiliar people, and she didn't think she'd have much luck this time either. She opened her mouth and... nothing. She could not get a word out, no matter how hard they tried (and she reflexively cringed, even knowing that no one could touch her down here).

***...That bad, huh. I'm over here, kid.**

Frisk turned toward where the "here" had come from (but none of the other words, which was strange), and yelped in horror. The person standing there barely looked alive — their skin was horrifically marked with blisters and bleeding, especially around their mouth, they were clearly severely dehydrated, and only the fact that they were moving and breathing made Frisk doubt their status as "corpse". They rolled their eyes and walked toward Frisk, making her back up into a wall. She looked up the wall and considered if climbing back up was better than staying down here any longer.

***You wouldn't make it.**

Frisk looked back at the person in fear. She barely managed to squeak out a "W-why?" before sliding down to her knees, covering her head with her cape, and trying not to panic, cry, or both. She heard a sigh of exasperation and was vaguely aware of something settling next to her through the panic. 

***It's just impos... Yoooouuu sure're having a meltdown. Let's just... take this from the beginning, I guess. I'm Chara, use "they" like you've been doing. You?**

Chara didn't speak after that, although Frisk heard the sound of clothing being pulled to cover something shortly after. Frisk guessed they were waiting for her to calm down. It took a long time—how long, Frisk wasn't sure — but she did eventually manage to calm down enough to be able to slowly sign, [My name is Frisk. What did you mean by that?]

Chara looked confused, so Frisk clarified. [When you said, "use 'they' like you've been doing." What does that mean?]

Chara blinked slowly several times, and Frisk thought she might need to ask again, more slowly in case they didn't understand, by the time they responded.

***I'm not a she or a he. I'm a they.**

They said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and Frisk was incredibly stupid for not getting it, but it was a completely alien concept to Frisk. It sounded... nice, to not have to choose. Frisk envied them, a bit (though not enough to want to go through what they looked like they did). Frisk looked away from Chara long enough to stand up, but when she looked back, they were gone like they'd never been there. The flowers and dirt they'd been sitting on hadn't even been disturbed. Frisk decided that she didn't want to think about the implications of that and ran out the only exit to the room.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey the flower!"

The golden flower smiled up at Frisk, tilting its head to the side. "Hmm... You must be new to the Underground, aren'tcha?"

Frisk nodded, glad to have a guide that wasn't as creepy-looking as Chara (and with that Frisk 'felt' Chara storm out of the room, blazing with anger. Frisk regretted thinking that, but couldn't take it back). Flowey's smile brightened. 

"Golly, you must be so confused! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. I guess little ol' me will have to do!" Flowey winked at Frisk playfully before continuing, and she felt as much as saw a red heart emerge from her chest to rest over the heart clasp holding her cape in place. "See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LOVE. Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"

A handful of small white pellets appeared in the air, and Frisk could hear a faint hum.   
  
 "Down here, LOVE is shared through... little white... 'friendliness pellets.'" Flowey glanced to the left and his smile flickered to something less benign as he said that, but so quickly Frisk thought they were imagining things. Frisk ignored it in favor of clasping her hands in front of her and looking appropriately attentive. It wasn't a deliberate act so much as something Frisk had learned to do when being lectured, and that held true even when the person speaking was a flower.  
  
"Are you ready? Get as many as you can!" 

The pellets began to move in Frisk's direction, and she ran up to touch her SOUL to one--and collapsed to her hands and knees as horrific agony filled her entire body. Frisk looked up at Flowey, who had completely discarded the benign expression he'd worn just moments before.  
  
"You _idiot_. In this world, it's kill or BE killed." His smile grew more malicious and he began to cackle. "Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this!?"  
  
  **"Die."**

* * *

Frisk decided that she really, _really_ did not like flowers anymore and that she wasn't sure if she trusted the goat woman walking her through the Ruins if Flowey had been remotely representative of how people acted down here. But Flowey had been more... actively mean. Toriel just seemed overprotective so far, and outside of the incident with the dummy (Frisk... did not think that Toriel had expected the dummy to just leave after three minutes of extremely awkward attempts to speak and nervous rocking given her expression, even if she pretended nothing had happened after the fact) she seemed like a perfectly wonderful person.

It made Frisk nervous. She'd learned long ago that most people didn't act nice unless they wanted something, Flowey had proven that that much wasn't different, and not knowing what Toriel wanted was... not good. If she could just figure out what she wanted, maybe Frisk could keep her happy? 

***You don't need to MAKE her happy.**

There was Chara again, and their voice didn't seem to come from anywhere this time. Frisk discreetly looked around for them until she was interrupted by Toriel stopping and kneeling down to Frisk's level. "My child, is something bothering you?" Her face hardened briefly before she continued. "Is some _one_ bothering you?"

Frisk shook her head, and tried to get her thoughts together enough to speak. "N... no. 'M okay." Frisk forced a smile and gently pat Toriel's hand to reassure her.  No point in making people worry about her.

"If you're sure..." Toriel stood and looked toward the other side of the room thoughtfully. Frisk followed her gaze to the floor full of spikes on the other side. Frisk wasn't sure how that was a puzzle, but maybe she was just missing something. Toriel looked down at Frisk. "Perhaps... this puzzle is too dangerous for right now. Take my hand." 

Frisk let herself be lead through the retracting spikes. As they walked through, Frisk noticed that the pattern on the floor of the other room roughly matched where the "safe" spots were on the spikes. It was... a rather obvious solution now that she thought about it. Frisk was lost in her embarrassment for long enough that Toriel let go of her hand without Frisk noticing, and she ended up tripping on a frog-like monster. Frisk squeaked and tried to get out an apology, but it was too late--the frog was frightened and thought Frisk was attacking it.  _Chara, help!_

***Froggit. ATK 4 DEF 5. Life's difficult for this enemy.**

_That's not helping!_ The Froggit was genuinely intimidating to Frisk, and Frisk was very, very bad at fighting. But before it escalated, Toriel was looming over them and glaring daggers at the Froggit, who quickly hopped away. Frisk didn't blame it; Toriel's face had been scary. "Had", because immediately after the Froggit was a safe distance away she turned to Frisk and checked her for injuries. Frisk eventually had to sign that she was fine several times before Toriel was convinced. Why was Toriel so concerned about the safety of someone she just met? It didn't make sense.

Then again, a lot of the Underground didn't make sense to Frisk. Maybe that was a good thing.

Toriel walked Frisk into the next room and suddenly stopped. She glanced down at Frisk before looking ahead again, and turned to them. "I must go ahead for now." She seemed physically pained to say it. "...Forgive me."

And Frisk was left to run after Toriel as she sped out of sight. Frisk tried as hard as possible, but Frisk's legs were much shorter than Toriel's and they just didn't have the stamina the goat woman had. Frisk was on the verge of panic by the time she staggered to the end of the room, and nearly started crying in relief when Toriel came out from behind the pillar. Toriel saw Frisk's distress and let them cling to her for a few moments to calm down. 

"I'm sorry for leaving you behind, my child. I needed to test your independence." Frisk let go of Toriel to look up at her in confusion. What did she mean by that? Toriel shifted slightly to pull something from a pocket in her skirt before continuing. "I will need to leave you here to do something, and I do not know how long it will take me." Frisk stiffened in horror but couldn't get a word out to protest. 

Toriel held the object out to Frisk. "I wanted to give you this cell phone so that you could contact me if you needed me. My number is written on the side." Frisk turned it over in her hands to examine it; it was, indeed, a cell phone--of a type Frisk had only seen in pictures of centuries-old technology. 

"Be good, alright?" With that and a gentle ruffle of her hair, Toriel left. Frisk stood and rocked to work out her anxiety while thinking of what she should do next.

***You should follow her.**

Frisk shook her head violently. Toriel trusted her to stay put, and Frisk couldn't risk making her angry. Frisk felt Chara's sudden burst of blind anger and covered her head without thinking.

***Oh god, no, kid--shit, I'm not mad at _you_ , Frisk, I'm mad at the people who hurt you. I won't hurt you and M-Toriel would _never_ get mad at you over this.**

Frisk didn't entirely believe them, but relaxed enough to sit down and rock instead of stand before asking something that'd been brewing in the back of their mind since they met them. "Chara, how did you know you were a 'they'?" 

Chara appeared next to them with an irritated expression and shrugged.

***I just _did_. Why? Do you want to be called "they"?**

Frisk shrugged back. Being called they felt more right than she, but... surely she would have known sooner if she really were? It was an odd feeling, and it made Frisk feel a little sick. Frisk pulled out the phone and dialed the number on the side to talk to Toriel and get her mind off the whole "they" thing. They were always better at talking when they weren't face-to-face with someone anyway.

"Hello? This is Toriel."

"It's Frisk. I wanted to say hi."

"Oh, you only wanted to say hello? Well, 'hello'!" Frisk heard Toriel laugh through the speaker. It didn't sound mocking, more genuinely pleased to hear Frisk talk. Weird. They talked for a while longer before Frisk accidentally called Toriel "mom". Frisk stared at the phone in their hands in horror before Toriel's voice (she sounded like she was... trying not to cry?) came through again. 

"If calling me Mother will make you happy, than I will be glad to be your mother."

They exchanged awkward goodbyes before ending the call. Frisk buried her face in her hands and tried to not be too embarrassed over the slip-up. Maybe thinking about gender would have been better than this. After taking a few moments to calm herself slightly, Frisk looked around. "Chara?" Chara suddenly appeared in front of Frisk without having actually come from anywhere, and Frisk stumbled back onto the ground. Chara was completely unimpressed by the display of grace and agility.

***What is it?**

Frisk swallowed and signed, [When did you know you were "they" and not "he" or "she"?] 

***After I fell.**

Frisk stood, dusted of her--no,  _their_ \--robes, and looked Chara straight in the eye (which was surprisingly easy; Chara was only slightly taller than Frisk). [Then I am also "they".]

Chara snorted and vanished without saying anything, but they left behind a feeling of approval. Frisk looked out the door to the rest of the ruins, and walked out of the room.

_Knowing yourself... it fills you with **determination**._


	2. Ouvyu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk ventures through the Ruins. Chara "helps".

Of course, given that Frisk was still a kid, they quickly lost interest in the subject when presented with a giant pile of wonderfully crunchy leaves to wade through. They distracted themselves for a few minutes playing in the pile before they noticed the Froggit sitting (hiding?) by a wall to their left. Frisk waded out of the pile and dusted off their robes and skirt before trotting up to it. They crouched to the Froggit's level and cocked their head to the side. There was an awkward silence for a moment before the Froggit ribbited something Frisk couldn't understand--but Chara could.

***It's asking you to be merciful in battle; most monsters don't want to keep fighting if they know they're beaten or if you show you're not a threat.**

Frisk didn't understand why the Froggit had felt that that needed to be said (after all, they had no interest in fighting in the first place), but they nodded at the Froggit and thanked it for its advice before they stood and left. It must have had a good reason for saying it, so Frisk didn't question it further. It was not their place to ask why things were done. Frisk felt Chara's anger bubble up in the back of their head at that thought, but couldn't understand why they'd be angry about it.

They didn't get a chance to mull over it; their phone started ringing almost as soon as they'd thought it and both Chara and Frisk lost the train of thought in favor of answering it. Frisk held the phone to their head and automatically began reciting their script for being called. "Hello? This is Frisk."

 _"Frisk, it's good to hear you speak! I know it's hard for you."_  Toriel paused for a moment (to let Frisk respond?) before continuing. _"You haven't left the room, right? There are some puzzles ahead I haven't explained, and they could be dangerous. I should be back soon, bu--"_ There was a sudden yelp from the speaker, quickly replaced by the panting of an annoying animal (possibly a dog?) and Toriel's distant demands to return the phone.

Frisk hung up, and looked at the phone in disbelief. That was... not how they expected the call to end. Or any interaction to end, really. Frisk felt vague amusement from Chara shortly before they responded to the... unique... turn of events.

***That annoying dog's at it again, huh? Well, no point in waiting around; she's not going to catch him for a while.**

Chara appeared in front of Frisk, and started walking off before Frisk could ask how they knew that. They didn't even look back to check on Frisk before waving for Frisk to follow. Frisk put the phone back in their pocket before chasing after them into a new room, smaller than the one they were just in with massive cracks stretching across the middle. Frisk didn't think a single spot of the cracked floor looked sturdy enough to support their weight, and there didn't seem to be another way across. Frisk looked up at Chara (who had started floating for extra height; apparently they didn't appreciate being only slightly taller than a twelve-year-old) for a hint, but couldn't quite manage to form the words. After several frustrating attempts to get Chara to pay attention, they finally walked onto the cracked floor.

Frisk was not even slightly surprised when the ground crumbled beneath them and they fell elbow-first into a giant pile of leaves carefully swept into position under the holes. Frisk turned onto their back and glared up at the hole above them while they caught their breath and mostly recovered from the physical shock of falling through the floor. After Frisk felt like their limbs could support them again, albeit shakily, they slid off the pile and trotted up to the doorway on the side of the room across from where they fell. They checked it to make sure it actually went anywhere before scurrying up the ladder attached to the wall to the room above.

Chara was still laughing at Frisk's misfortune when they crawled out of the hole in the wall, and it took everything in Frisk's power to not try to punch them and cry at the same time instead of catching their attention and signing rapidly. [That was mean!]

Chara look at them and seemed... somewhat confused by the response.

*** It was just a prank.**

[I could have died, Chara!]

***Nothing would have happened; this trap is harmle--**

" _I didn't know that, Chara!_ " Frisk voice cracked and they felt their eyes water. Frisk tried not to think about how embarrassing it would be to cry in public; they knew thinking about it would make them feel worse, which would make them cry more. Chara became invisible again, and Frisk felt more than heard Chara's nervous giggling as they realized how badly they'd scared Frisk with what was meant to be a harmless joke. Frisk wondered how much they had actually thought about the joke before pulling it. Probably not much, if at all. Frisk collapsed onto a wall and rocked until they were calm enough to continue.

 

* * *

 

It took a bit, but they eventually continued through the traps in the other rooms. After the floor incident, Chara was much more helpful with the rest of the puzzles the two encountered (barring a joking scolding about standing on leaves, which started an argument over whether the leaves would even care in the first place), and it went much more smoothly even with the extra falls. Even so, Frisk was exhausted by the time they reached the mousehole; they were filled with determination at the thought of the mouse finally getting the cheese, but it couldn't help with recovering from falling through the floor four times without sitting and stimming in a safe spot to make sure they weren't too badly hurt.

***Frisk, at worse you'll have a few scratches. Toriel practically childproofed this place.**

Frisk ignored Chara. They had a great deal of experience with injuries that looked far more minor than they actually were, and they didn't want to miss something that would bring too much attention to them. Toriel seemed nice, but... Frisk unconsciously shuddered. Nice didn't always last, and if they were too much trouble Toriel might leave them--or worse. Some part of Frisk insisted that Toriel would never do that, but... they knew otherwise.

Frisk stood up, satisfied with their brief examination, and walked out the door to the next room--to see another ghost.

They didn't look like Chara, in the sense that they had a real form. They looked like a floating sheet that was also lying on the floor saying "z" repeatedly, which wouldn't be a problem... if there were any other way around them.

 _I don't want to disturb them..._ Chara scoffed at the thought.

***They're a _ghost_ , kid. Just move them with force.**

Frisk didn't feel entirely certain about it, but they walked up to the ghost, knelt down, and reached out to nudge them "awake" (best to play along if they were pretending that hard). Unfortunately, Frisk startled the pretend-sleeping ghost, and felt their soul manifest in front of them as they were dragged into a fight.

_Chara, help!_

***Napstablook. ATK 10 DEF 10. They don't seem to have much of a sense of humor...**  
  
Napstablook looked directly at Chara with eyes full of magical tears once they finished talking. "oh, I'm _REAL_ funny."  
  
Chara froze with shock before vanishing from view, leaving Frisk to dodge a flurry of tears-turned bullets alone. They stood, panting, when the last of the bullets faded, and suddenly realized that they could hear singing. It was soft and barely audible over the omnipresent thumming of the mountain, but it was _there_ and Frisk could just make out the feelings within the music, if not the exact words.  
  
Frisk gave Napstablook a patient smile, like Toriel had given them after saving them from Flowey. Napstablook's song was sad and self-depricating, and while Frisk wasn't too familiar with the dialect the ghost used they knew enough to tell that Napstablook just needed kindness and patience. Napstablook chuckled quietly, before magically writing that they "weren't feeling up to it right now, sorry" in the air before Frisk.  
  
Frisk knew the feeling, and they faintly felt that Chara knew it too (they laughed a bit at it, but it was the kind of laugh that comes from shared experience). Frisk took a deep breath to calm themselves before trying an old joke they knew. As Frisk reached the punchline, Napstablook chuckled a bit louder while Chara groaned loudly in their head.  
  
A few wobbly, line-shaped tears came Frisk's way, but were easily avoided. The singing seemed a bit happier, so Frisk tried one more time to improve Napstablook's mood. "Y... You're r-really cool..."  
  
Frisk buried their face in their hands and wished they could sink into the floor. That was an incredibly awkward attempt at a compliment. They looked back up at Napstablook after Chara "nudged" them into paying attention.  
  
***Napstablook wants to show you something.**  
  
Once Frisk confirmed that they were looking at Napstablook (through sign this time; they were too embarassed to speak again), the ghost began to cry heavily again--but this time, the tears rose to their head(?) and began to form a top hat. "I call it... "dapper blook"... do you like it.." They looked at Frisk expectantly.  
  
Frisk was delighted. [You look really cute, Napstablook!]  
  
"oh no..." Napstablook blushed and faded slightly, and for a moment Frisk thought that they'd done something wrong, but Napstablook continued. "I usually come to the ruins because there's nobody around... but today I met you, and you're really nice..." Napstablook paused like they were slightly surprised to have talked even that little. "oh, I'm rambling again... I'll get out of your way..."  


Napstablook faded away completely before Frisk could finish asking them to stay and talk. They tried to contain their disappointment; they'd meant it when they'd called Napstablook cute, but they could already feel Chara's disapproval as the teen manifested in front of them.

*** Frisk. Do not flirt with the ghost.**

Frisk stuck their tongue out at Chara instead of replying, and walked around them to the door on the left side of the room. They heard Chara sigh behind them, and tried not to think about what upset them so much.  
  
Chara seemed to get mad at everything, but that _wasn't anger_ and it scared Frisk more than they'd like to admit. Anger was predictable. This... wasn't.

* * *

 

Frisk solved the switch puzzles without any input on Chara's part, much to their relief. Chara tried to be helpful, but they were easily distracted and prone to wandering off to look at the Ruins like they'd never been in them before. They could still taste the leaves that'd gotten into their mouth from the last time Chara had gotten sidetracked by something when they were supposed to be helping with a puzzle.

At least they'd been able to see Napstablook again, even if they left before Frisk could say anything. And they'd found a ribbon, which wasn't entirely a good thing--asking Chara about it made them look away and say that being cuter meant monsters wouldn't hit as hard.  
  
Frisk didn't think they were only talking about the monsters under the mountain, even if the attacks that hit them _did_ hurt a bit less with the ribbon on.  
  
Still, it had mostly gone uneventfully until Frisk tripped on a slime-like monster, startling it into attacking. Chara was as calm about the sudden shift to battle as ever, although they chimed in without waiting for Frisk to ask this time.  
  
***Moldsmal. ATK 6 DEF 0. Stereotypical; curvaceously attractive, but no brains.**  
  
Frisk looked down at the moldsmal. They didn't see where the attractive came in, but... Maybe it was cute for slimes? The moldsmal wiggled and Frisk had to change their focus to dodging the unfocused but still potentially deadly bullets. When the bullets stopped, an idea came to Frisk. Chara noticed, but not in time to stop Frisk from wiggling their hips with the moldsmal.  
  
***What a enthralling conversation! _Stop flirting with people you've just met!_**  
  
Frisk ignored Chara in favor of lying down next to the moldsmal and contemplating the ceiling. They felt an increased understanding of the universe, and only the threat of Chara's loud proclamations of boredom made them get up and wave goodbye to the slime monster. Chara flicked into existence next to Frisk, and floated next to them as they moved forward.  
  
*** Seriously, Frisk, you need to stop that. All of these monsters are adults.**  
  
Frisk rolled their eyes. [Fine, _mom_ , I'll stop.]  
  
Chara seemed unconvinced, but dropped the subject. They both walked through the next room to the door on the other side, where another Froggit sat. It ribbited like the last four did, and Chara translated like the last four times they spoke to froggits.  
  
*** It's telling you that it saw Toriel come through here with groceries. It doesn't know what they're for, since they're all too intimidated by her to ask.  
**   
Frisk didn't like what that implied, but walked through the door next to the Froggit anyway. They had expected more caves, Toriel's home, a huge puzzle... but not a massive, sprawling city that stretched from the cave walls their viewpoint was jutting from to deep in the darkness on the other side of the chamber. Frisk stared at the city, trying to process it all. They had thought that the Ruins were a small place, but the city was huge.  
  
  
Huge, and partially abandoned. Once they got over the shock, they realized that most of the buildings were crumbling, marked off as unsafe, or already fallen. Those that stood still seemed to hold families, but it was nowhere near what it clearly once held. **  
**  
***Now that you're done staring, you should probably check the ground you can actually reach.**  
  
Frisk started, and turned to where Chara's voice had come from. By their feet, only barely visible in the dim light coming from the doorway, there was a plastic knife wedged into a crack in the stone. They knelt to look at it, brushing the dirt and growing stalagmites off of it to get a closer look. It was old; Frisk could barely read the year stamped on the hilt, but they doubted it was under three hundred. Despite that, it was surprisingly undamaged by time or rock, having only a few minor scratches and being less brittle than old plastic usually was.  
  
None of that explained why Chara wanted them to look at it.  
  
"Why?" Frisk didn't look up from the knife, so they didn't see the annoyance that briefly crossed Chara's face. **  
**  
***To protect yourself.**  
  
Frisk's stomach turned as the implication hit them. They didn't want to fight, _couldn't_ bring themselves to fight, even if someone attacked first. They vaguely recognized that they had started rocking anxiously and silently crying, but didn't care about that as much as not being violently sick all over their clothing. **  
**  
***Well, _fuck_. Forget I said anything, then; just put it in a pocket and we can go find Toriel.**  
  
Chara punctuated their statement with an impulsive attempt at a physical push that ended with their hand passing through Frisk's shoulder, making them shudder from the sudden cold. The sensation grounded Frisk enough that they could stagger to their feet and quickly hurry away from the toy knife, from the viewpoint over the city, from anything that reminded them of the fact that they might run right into the same situation that they had climbed the mountain to get away from in the first place.  
  
After going through the doorway they hadn't looked at yet, Chara appeared in front of them suddenly enough that Frisk walked straight through them before swaying to a halt. The sharp feeling of cold throughout their whole body snapped Frisk back to reality, and they groggily looked at their surroundings.  
  
Frisk didn't manage to do much besides think _I think I know where the leaves come from now_ before they heard Toriel's footsteps and voice coming toward them, shortly followed by their phone ringing. Frisk froze when they realized that she'd heard, which gave Toriel enough time to come around the massive tree in the chamber and see them. Frisk started preparing an apology, but lost track of it when Toriel kneeled down to their level and gently brushed a clawed thumb over a tear track.  
  
"Oh, my child, you've been hurt... I never should have left you alone just to surprise you when I brought you here. Let me heal you."  
  
Toriel waited until Frisk nodded, and the area was briefly filled with a soothing, maternal song and a gentle green light that seemed to take away even the memory of pain for a moment. Toriel stopped singing her spell, and offered her hand. Before taking it, Frisk cautiously (and with a great deal of encouragement from Chara) signed, [What did you mean by "surprise"?]  
  
Toriel blinked like she hadn't realized she'd said anything of the sort, and laughed at herself. "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it anymore. Come, my child." Frisk grabbed her hand (or, well, part of it; Toriel's hands were so large that they made Frisk's hands look ridiculously tiny) and let themselves be led to the cozy little house in the Ruins.  
  
As Toriel opened the door, Frisk was overwhelmed by a sweet, spicy smell that they couldn't quite place. Thankfully, Toriel placed it for them. "Do you smell that? I made you a butterscotch-cinnamon pie!" Frisk perked up slightly; being offered food was a good sign. Toriel's smile broadened at Frisk's slight change in posture, and Frisk could faintly hear a cheerful song rise in volume for a moment. "I wanted to make your first day here special, so I thought I should hold off on snail pie for tonight." **  
**  
Frisk felt Chara groan (apparently they had Opinions about snail pie), but thought that snails couldn't be that bad compared to some of the things they'd eaten. They were about to thank Toriel when she gestured for them to follow. "Come, I have one more thing for you." Frisk followed with no small amount of confusion, but that quickly gave way to shock when they saw her gesture toward a door.  
  
"This room is yours now, my child, for as long as you live with me." She gently ruffled Frisk's hair before sharply turning her head toward the other side of the house. "Um, is something burning? Make yourself at home, dear," she said before rushing off, leaving Frisk alone. They still couldn't quite believe what was happening, and half-expected it all to be revealed as part of a cruel joke.  
**  
*****Monsters aren't like that. _Toriel_ isn't like that.**  
  
Frisk wasn't entirely certain of how much they believed Chara, but just standing around wasn't going to get them anywhere. They opened the door and peeked inside to find a perfectly ordinary bedroom that wouldn't be out of place aboveground, save for the age of some objects. Feeling a bit of their determination return at how safe it looked, Frisk walked into the room with Chara (who had manifested when they weren't looking) trailing behind. Frisk carefully closed the door behind them, and went to investigate the room further.  
  
There wasn't really anything of note; there were old toys (none of which Frisk was interested in, although Chara thought a few looked cool), a dresser full of multiple sizes of clothes with a wide variety of styles and ages, an empty picture frame dusty from age, and a box.  
  
A box filled with worn children's shoes of varying sizes.  
  
Frisk's mind immediately leapt to the worst possible scenario, but they were interrupted by Chara before they could work themself into a lather. **  
**  
***The other humans that fell left on their own, Frisk. You're not going to wake up in a bathtub full of ice.**  
  
If it weren't for the fact that Chara seemed to be very familiar with Toriel, Frisk wouldn't have let it go. But Chara had seemed to be at least interested in Frisk's well-being, even if they were a total jerk about it; they wouldn't lie about something that dangerous--right?  
  
Frisk took a deep breath and steadied themself. They were tired and hungry and that wasn't going to go away from worrying. They left the room to investigate the rest of the house, starting with the rest of the hallway. One door contained what was probably Toriel's room (Frisk did not enter even though Chara tried to egg them into looking around), the other was locked and labeled "under renovations" and there was a large mirror at the end of the hall. Frisk had to stand on tip-toe to see more than their forehead, but otherwise the mirror was very ordinary. **  
**  
***It's you!**  
  
Frisk turned to give Chara a Look worthy of Toriel, which just made them laugh. **  
**  
***You're no fun, kid. C'mon, there are more interesting things than a mirror--like Toriel's room.**  
  
"'m not going into Toriel's room." **  
**  
***Eh, it was worth a shot.**  
  
They walked back to the foyer and into the living room, where Toriel was sitting and reading a book. Frisk didn't notice the book so much as Toriel's glasses; they were odd to see on a giant goat-monster, but they also reminded Frisk of their late grandmother. It made them feel... _safe_... where Chara's reassurances hadn't. Frisk tried not to think too much on it.  
  
Toriel noticed them before they could speak. "Oh, my child! Did you like your room?"  
  
Frisk nodded. They wanted to ask about the shoes, but... The words wouldn't come to mind. Toriel frowned with concern. "Is something the matter? You can tell me anything."  
  
Frisk hesitated a moment before speaking. "Why the shoes?"  
  
Toriel looked pained but quickly hid it (although she was clearly not as happy as before; the soft cheer surrounding her had a forced sound to it and was underlaid with something sadder). She took a deep breath and adjusted the diadem on her head before she spoke. "There... were humans before you. Most stayed for long enough to grow out of their shoes many times, and I haven't had the heart to go through them all."  
  
Frisk didn't press her for more; it clearly wasn't something she wanted to talk about in detail. They had a short conversation about the book she was reading (a history of the Underground, and finding out the proper name of the Ruins made Frisk giggle), before telling them to take a nap before they made themselves sick from exhaustion. Frisk didn't agree with the end result (they'd been more tired without getting sick), but they went back to the room Toriel had given them.  
  
They turned off the lights and flopped onto the bed. Shortly before they fell asleep, a thought drifted through their head. _Having a safe place to stay and a warm meal ahead... it fills you with_ ** _**determination.**_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I compressed the writing size for some things because I just wanted this dang chapter to be done with already; if anything's too confusing/disjointed, please let me know. A few minutes of editing is better than having people be confused because I didn't write clearly enough.
> 
> The next chapter will hopefully not be as late as this one, but I guarantee nothing. also, I'm still working on METHOD_HEARTACHE (or whatever its final title will be) so the lyrics in-story will probably be a bit different from the final if you're following that aspect of the AU.


End file.
